The present invention relates to a method for the calculation of charges in a telecommunication system over a select period of time The time period may be ongoing or continuous. The present method employs a charge calculation point which is equipped to receive information about a particular and/or current tariff rate. At the calculation point, charges incurred on the basis of the tariff rate along with the period of use of a service to which the tariff rate applies are calculated. The precision of charge accounting, i.e. time unit upon which a charge is based—such as an amount per every 1, 10 or 60 seconds—is determined by the clocking or sampling of the time interval on which the charge calculation is based. This can be predetermined by a service operator setting the tariff. In other words, usage of service is sampled to determine the time it was used and such time is then divided by the precision to arrive at a toll for the usage. The charge calculation point is also equipped to transmit information about the charges incurred to a subscriber at predetermined time intervals.
The invention also relates to a telecommunication system comprising a charge calculation point which is equipped to calculate the charges incurred for the use of a service on the basis of a tariff rate assigned to the service. In addition, the charge calculation point is equipped to calculate the period of use of the service, with the precision of charge accounting being determined by the clocking of the time interval on which the charge calculation is based, the time interval being potentially predetermined by a network/service operator setting the tariff. The charge calculation point is also equipped to transmit information about the charges incurred to a telecommunication terminal of a subscriber at predetermined time intervals.
Herein, the term services refers to the provision of the capabilities and features of a telecommunication system, for example the transfer of voice or data, as well as switching activities along with the provision of a network and the like. Other telecommunication services may be included under the term services as is envisioned by one skilled in the art.
With the introduction of the transfer of payment information for end customers using services, for example a voice service, the tariffs used for charging, which are in the form of price per unit of time, are transmitted by a service operator setting the tariff for the service to a subscriber network operator with the operator calculating the charges according to its accounting and making the calculated charges available to its end customers/subscribers in the form of payment information.
Tariff information determined for example by international—ETSI ES 201 296—and national standards is also specified here in the form of a price per unit of time—generally as a price per second.
Charges can be output on a subscriber's telecommunication terminal according to the prior art depending on the set-up and facilities of the terminal either in currency format or in charge pulses. The charges incurred are hereby determined as a product of elapsed time, for example in seconds, and the tariff rate, for example the price per second.
Accounting by the service operator setting the tariff can only correspond to the display of charges at the telecommunication terminal if the accounting precision of the subscriber network operator is the same as that of the service operator setting the tariff.
If the service operator sets the tariff charges with a precision of 60 seconds, and the subscriber network operator setting the tariff charges with a precision of one second, the display of charges at the subscriber's telecommunication terminal will not correspond to the costs actually resulting for said subscriber. For example, a tariff for a service is assumed to be EUR 0.005/sec, accounting precision of the subscriber network operator one second, and accounting precision of the switching network operator 60 seconds. In the case of a call lasting 20 seconds, a call charge of EUR 0.1 is displayed at the subscriber's telecommunication terminal but the network operator setting the tariff computes EUR 0.3 in post-processing and charges for this, as its accounting precision is based on a time interval which is three times longer than that of the subscriber network operator.
It can be seen from the above that the subscriber has to pay three times more than is displayed. This can of course result in subscriber dissatisfaction. It is therefore in the interests of both the subscriber and the network operator to output the actual or real costs incurred at the subscriber's telecommunication terminal.
Post processing here refers to the fact that charges are calculated after termination of use of the service. Charges should however be shown online, i.e. as synchronously or real time as possible with the use of the service at the subscriber's telecommunication terminal.
The only known means of making the charge display and accounting correspond is to bring the accounting precision of the network operator providing a service and setting the tariff into line with the accounting precision of the subscriber network operator. However this results in a significant restriction on charging options for the network operators providing the telecommunication services.
The calculated charge information is also of significance with regard to cost monitoring for services, for which exceeding a certain cost limit when using the service is automatically prevented.
When the accounting precisions of the subscriber network operators and service providers are different, there is no known possible means of ensuring precise compliance with this cost limit. Accordingly, a need exists to harmonize the accounting.